FanPost

Hypothetically speaking...

Okay, so let me just start off by stating that the below in no way reflects my thoughts but I'm simply bringing up a few things which, as the series progresses, may be worth a look.
Also just for the record, the Suns will still win this opening series 4-2. Since when have we ever done anything easy, huh?
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We all know how disappointing last nights game against the Blazers was.
We all felt the huge let down after our grand expectations. We all believed we could start this series with a win.
But like I say, when do we ever do anything the easy way?
*The following is purely hypothetical so everyone, just chill*
Let's drop over to the Debbie Downer side and wonder what might be if we lose the series in whatever fashion the Gods of Fate would have planned for us:


"The third placed Suns go out to the sixth seeded Blazers".


Ignoring all the gloating Blazers fans, the fact that Sir Chuck will be roasting the team to within an inch of their lives and that every single media outlet will be shaking their head in a 'We knew you were too good to be true and now you know it too' way, what will it mean for our franchise? Who has most to lose from the Suns going out in the first round after so much expectation?


Steve 'Captain Canada' Nash:
Let's not kid ourselves, Steve is old. Old in basketball terms at least. Sure his body appears to be in perfect working order and it helps he's using alien technology to keep him feeling young but his window of opportunity is closing. He knows it, I know it and you know it. As much as we'd like to believe that Steve will keep playing for the rest of eternity, it's simply not going to happen. If we go out first round, what's that going to do to Steve's psyche? Will he throw in the towel at the end of his contract? Will he think that it's just not meant to be? Will he forever be labelled by everyone outside of the Suns-lovers as 'hugely entertaining, love to play with him, dubious 2 time MVP who never made a single NBA finals. And he didn't ever play defense."?


STAT:
I've openly admitted I hated Amar'e until he beasted his way through the second half of the season but what happens if Phoenix drops out of the playoffs in the first round? Will Amar'e become public enemy number one? There were hints of this last night in the threads. Will he stick around or will he go to what he believes is a title contender who will overpay him what he wants? What happens if Amar'e doesn't pick his game up to the level we've all come to selfishly expect and he averages an 18-9 series? His reputation would be battered.


Grant Hill:
Someone said it yesterday; if we lose will Grant be labelled as having 'The curse of Tracy McGrady', meaning he hasn't ever been out of the first round (I know T-Mac technically has but let's face it, the Rockets didn't even want him anymore at that stage..)? Will Grant, like Nash think that enough is enough and that maybe he should jack it all in to go and play the only song he knows on his piano? (5 bonus points for anyone who can name that song!)


Channing Frye: This one interests me more and more as time goes by. Frye has reportedly asked for a large sum of money that he's not worth. A big man that shoots 3 and doesn't play defense? For the money he is reportedly asking for, I could bring in 3 players to do what he does - 1 big man, 1 player who only shoots threes or long twos and someone who can't play D. Will his value plummet? Will he miss his chance of a big payday? Will he ever find a system that allows him to flourish as he does in the Suns one?


Lou 'my BFF' Amundson: I have more love for Lou than I do my own mother but if we go out in the first round, will Lou be allowed to leave rather than paying him more by resigning him, than he currently earns ($855,189)? If that happens, will he go to a team where they pay him more and then expect more and ultimately break him? (If we don't resign him, I swear to God I'm gonna send Sarver a piece of paper with a swear word on it!)


We can go on...the young guys - will the lack of progress this year affect their future careers? Possibly not as they will have other years to get back to the postseason but will any future appearances in the playoffs be alongside such savvy and smart guys as Grant and Steve where they can really learn about the game so early in their careers?


Jarron Collins and Dwayne Jones - We bomb out, these two guys are gone, right? What's that? They'll probably be gone regardless? Maybe but they also have a lot riding on this series/playoffs. They might be asked to stick around if we have a good post season run.

And what about Kerrs job? That'd be over I imagine.


I know it's easy to play the 'what if...' game and create thousands of scenarios as I just have but the impact could be bigger than Oliver Millers appetite if we lose in the opening round and it's something that, in Hypothetical Land, we'd need to be worried about.


However, we live in the real world and in this real world we currently trail Portland by only one game. Think about how good we were towards the end of the season. Is every sportswriter wrong when they said the Suns would emerge out of the first round? That'd be unheard of.
We're leaving the first round...and it won't be to pack our bags and go home. We WILL move on people.


Believe.